1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic instrument such as an audio device which mounted on e.g. a vehicle which is a moving body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional electronic instrument includes various car audio devices such as a compact disk (hereinafter referred to as CD) player, a mini-disc (MD) player, an AM/FM tuner, etc. which are mounted on an instrument panel (hereinafter referred to as “inpane”) of a vehicle which is a moving body. The car audio device is an electronic instrument 101 (FIG. 34) which incorporates e.g. the CD player and the AM/FM tuner which are accommodated in a box.
The electronic instrument 101 as illustrated in FIG. 34 includes an instrument body 102 attached to the inpane and an operation unit 103 which is movably attached to the instrument body 102. The instrument body 102 is formed in a box shape. The instrument body incorporates the AM/FM tuner and a player for playing the CD back.
The instrument body 102 has a recording medium inserting slot 107 on a plane 102a which faces a user when attached to the inpane. The recording medium inserting slot 107 is adapted so as to permit the CD which is a recording medium to be freely inserted.
The operation unit 103 includes various switches 104 for tuning the AM/FM broadcasting station and selecting a piece of music, and a display panel 105 which displays the tuned state and the selected state of the music. The operation unit 103 is attached to the instrument body 102 so that it is movable between a first position where the plane 102a is covered so as to cause the display panel 105 to face the user (FIG. 34) and a second position where the plane 102a is opened so as to radio expose the recording medium inserting slot 107 and orient the display panel upward (FIG. 35).
The operation unit 103 of the electronic instrument 101 illustrated in FIG. 34 is moved from the first position to the second position (FIG. 35) so that the lower end of the operation unit 103 projects forward from the one plane of the instrument body 102 and the upper end thereof is moved downward. Thus, the recording medium inserting slot 107 is exposed.
At the second position of the operation unit 103, the user inserts the CD into the instrument body 102 through the recording medium inserting slot 107 and takes it out therefrom. At the first position of the operation unit 103, the user operates the various switches 104 to change the source between the AM/FM tuner and CD player and to make the tuning of the tuner and song selection in the CD player.
In the conventional electronic instrument 101, since the operation unit 103 is provided with the various switches 104 and display panel 105, the display area is narrow so that the user is difficult to recognize the information displayed on the display panel visually.
Further, as shown in FIG. 36, even where the display panel 105 is provided on the one plane 102a of the instrument body 102, the display area of the display panel 105 is narrow. In this way, the conventional electronic instrument 101 has a tendency of making the operation status of the instrument itself difficult to recognize visually.